Target of Misfortune
by Elza C. Boe
Summary: After Sunnydale he finally found the place where he belonged, but then something happened. Can Gibbs's team find Xander or will he be forever lost?
1. Chapter 1

_A new story that poped in my mind shortly after new years. Took me a while to get it straight in my head. Pluse I was looking for a beta, so that I could publish better stories._

_So thank you, thank you, thank you Venea Taur for your help._

_I hope you like it :P_

**Chapter 1**

Xander sat behind his desk at NCIS. He would have laughed if someone told him seven years ago that he would be fighting human crime. Sunnydale's police didn't really inspire his confidence in law enforcement. But after what happened in Sunnydale, there were many things he would have never imagined he would do.

Cleveland was great. For a year or so. He liked helping innocent girls to understand their powers and be able to live normal lives in spite being slayers. Really, he did, but after a while, he knew that the International Slayer and Watcher Organization wasn't for him.

Yes, he was one of the most experienced members of the lot, but sitting behind a desk was not for him. Plus, if he had to endure anymore crazy teens he would have gone crazy.

So, he decided to be a silent partner from that point on. He would help when needed, but he wanted to find his own place under the sun. Somewhere, he would make a difference, a real difference. Possibly without being tasered by little girls.

It was a surprise to him that he went into law enforcement. He never saw himself as somebody that would be arresting people because they broke the law seeing how he had a hard time abiding by the law himself. However now that he thought about it, it was actually fitting.

He was too weak to fight the demons, but not to catch and punish the monsters that live amongst humans.

It took time for his assigned team to accept him, especially because Buffy helped and pulled some strings to get him in on a team. It boggled his mind that Buffy knew people powerful enough to pull those strings. Unfortunately, Gibbs didn't like being told Xander was going to be a part of his team, but he had no say in it. And he was suspicious of Xander, what with being a liaison officer with NCIS from an agency so secret that they couldn't even know the name.

But now, after four years of slaving, he knew he had his place on the team. He was a part of a family just like the Scooby Gang and he liked it. It was different from when he was fighting the demons as a Scooby, but that was good to. He was not sorry that he could overpower the bad guys this time around and he would not miss all those hours researching demons in every dead language that existed. Still, he lived up to his nick name "the one that sees," reading the undercurrents between members of the team better than anybody.

Like right now, Ziva was pissed at Tony because he took something from her desk when she wasn't there and Tony had no clue. Xander briefly wondered if he would have to buy a new tie for the funeral. He dismissed the thought, when McGee jumped in and distracted Ziva with some computer talk.

He liked McGee the most, from the people on Gibbs's team. Maybe because McGee reminded him of Willow, all smart and into computers, well except the magic. McGee had no magic of any sorts.

A slap to the head brought him from his thoughts.

"Focus Harris. Alright, what do we got? McGee." Gibbs sat down behind his desk, coffee already in his hand and an unreadable expression on his face.

"Well, I'm matching the tire impressions from the crime scene. So far, no luck." McGee looked up from his computer.

"Ziva. Took your time in the pawn shop?" Ziva made a face. She took a folder from her desk and went to Gibbs. "I hit a stone wall."

"Brick wall." Tony corrected, more out of habit than anything else.

"No, it was a stone wall. I backed up too quickly." Both Tony and Tim looked at her funny, but Xander wasn't all that surprised. Ziva drove only slightly better than Buffy. "I found the record of this sale. The gun was sold to a man by the name of Eddie Felson."

That surprised Tony, making him forget about all the jokes he was going to tell Ziva about women driving. "Fast Eddie Felson?"

"You know him?" Xander wasn't sure if it should surprise him Tony had friends that put adjectives before their names.

"Pfff, well yeah. Formal pool player forced into retirement by gangsters, he was a con man, and he was a buzzer." While Tony went on about the Fast Eddie, McGee searched for the guy on his computer.

"He was a character Paul Newman played in The Hustler." No wonder Tony knew him.

"And his hair was perfect," Tony interjected daring McGee to correct him. It was so Tony, to argue about meaningless things during an investigation, thought Tim. On the other hand, Ziva thought how she hit a brick wall too. "Apparently the gun was bought by using a false identity"

"Case file handed over by the PD?" asked Gibbs.

"Two unsolved robberies, five suspects. Uno, due, tre, quattro and … five." Tony jumped to Gibbs's desk with pictures of suspects. The three of them looked at the pictures.

"Name doesn't match any of our suspects'," Ziva commented, looking slightly disappointed how little success she had.

Gibbs took the last picture and compared it to the ID. "No, but the face does."

The rest of the day was spent searching for Ronald Nowakowski, bringing him back to NCIS and interrogating him.

At last, Xander was able to leave. He didn't really mind long hours. After all, working with Slayers never really ended, so even a little downtime was great.

He went home quickly, changed and prepared for a stroll around the city. Not being an active part of the ISWO didn't mean he didn't make sure the streets were safe in DC. It was a political city, witch was one of the reasons, he chose this city to settle. Demons here were more eager for political power than actual world dominance and apocalypse, so he wasn't really worried about the big bad going bump in the night. He took out an occasional vampire and if there was something bigger, he called Buffy.

That night was no different. He took a walk, dusted two vampires and went for a drink to Andy's pub.

Andy's was a great place. That is, if you were a demon. If not, it just made a great place for information of any kind. Bill, the bartender, a boluz demon, was already expecting him.

It was some kind of routine for Xander. A few times a week he went on patrol and once a week visited Andy's to hear what's going on in the town.

"Hey, Bill. How's it going?"

The demon reminded Xander on his drunken father, only a lot fatter and much nicer than Antony Harris. Billy just surged with his shoulders, indicating there was no information he deemed worth being concerned about.

"Same old, same old. We had open mike two nights ago. Brought a lot of customers in, so I'm thinking to do it more often. The Oden Tal girls were here too. Made a mess. Every unmarried demon or vampire tried to score one of them and that broke into a fight. Had to clean after them for hours. Oh and we have a new face in town. Came somewhere from L.A. I think. A half demon what he told me. Mom was a Brachen. Not really a dangerous kind, well at least not normally. The mated ones can become really nasty if you harm their mate. He's here somewhere if you want to talk to him. And that's about it for this week."

Xander looked around the place. It might be a demon bar, but he liked the atmosphere. The leather sits were comfy, the dim light just at the right places and the smell kind of reminded him of home, of Willow's and Buffy's place in Sunnydale.

"Nah. I trust you about the guy. Sounds like you had quite the week."

The demon put a beer in front the NCIS agent without being asked. He knew Xander would drink a beer, look around a little, chat with the brave ones and then go back home.

And that was the exact thing he did. Xander left the pub little after midnight walking all the way home instead of calling a cab. He didn't notice the shadow fallowing him, his too preoccupied with the just solved case at NCIS.

There was a gun that killed somebody, a body that didn't match the DNA Abby found on the gun but was killed with it too and a lot of mess and reports that they would have to sort out the next day.

With that thought, he came to his apartment door, taking the keys from his pocket. He opened the door and was just about to step in when he sensed somebody behind him.

He sidestepped, swinging his dagger, which he had hidden in his sleeve. But, it was already too late. Everything darkened and the last thought that he had was that at least he injured the big bad.

* * *

><p><strong>So? I really hope you liked it. You better review or I will be sad. See you next week.<strong>

**Elza C. Boe**


	2. Chapter 2

_Heiii, the next chapter is up :P ... yey for me and for my beta Vanea Taur ..._

_Oh and I forgot to mention this in the last chapter I don't own Buffy or NCIS. Bad luck right?_

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 2<strong>

Gibbs was not a happy man. His coffee has been violated by a complete stranger, the case with the cursed gun was for lack of better words cursed, Tony was most definitely about to break rule 12 – never date a coworker, and special agent Harris was late. Again.

That was nothing new with the one-eyed man. His normal twenty minute delay had become over an hour today. And the damn agent didn't answer his phone.

Gibbs had a really bad feeling about this and he learned a long time ago to trust his gut feelings. There could be a lot of reasons why Xander was late. He could have problems with his car or he could simply have a ''friend'' with him. Gibbs knew all that, but he just knew that something was wrong with Harris.

Harris may have some issues with arriving on time, but he was a good man and a great agent. Gibbs may not have liked the way Xandr got his position on the team, but the one-eyed man proved to everyone that he could have gotten the position, friends on high places or not. That was why he sent Ziva and Tony to pick Xander up and bring him to NCIS, so Gibbs could chew him out for worrying him.

**xXx**

"So what do you think Gibbs will do to Xander when he sees him?" very special agent Tony Dinozzo asked his partner, entering the elevator to get them to Xander's floor.

Usually Gibbs didn't send people to look for late agents and Tony hoped Xande had a good excuse for being late. If the only reason the missing agent had been late was a female company in bed, Tony seriously contemplated to kill the younger agent.

The thought may have been overkill, but Tony thought he had the right to be at least a little bit annoyed. After years of secret admiring and subtle flirting he finally got the courage to kiss Ziva. However, just before he kissed her Gibbs interrupted, sending them to go look for Xander.

Tony really didn't appreciate the interruption. All he could think of now was how Ziva didn't hurt him for trying to kiss her, which meant that she didn't mind to be kissed by Tony.

"He will probably just eat him out."

Tony of course had to correct her "Its chew him out Ziva, chew him out. How come after almost a decade of living in States you still mutilate the language? It's almost a crime. You should be punished for that!"

Ziva laughed at him and gave him a sly smile just before they stepped on Xander's floor.

"Maybe you should punish me for my bad behavior. At my place. Tonight."

The statement left Tony speechless and rooted to the spot, watching Ziva's back. Oh, boy was he going to have a night tonight. Just the thought vanquished everything else from his mind.

_Why was he here?_ No clue.

_What was he supposed to do?_ God only knows.

_What did Gibbs sent him here for?_ Gibbs sent him somewhere?

The woman, who had rendered him speechless, turned her head. "Are you coming Tony?"

That made him think of the time he was undercover with her, pretending they were married. They spent a lot of time in bed, pretending to do, what Ziva had offered to do tonight.

"Oh you bet I'm coming."

She laughed and turned back the way she was walking.

"Why don't you save that for… Tony." She cut her sentence short as the door to Xander's apartment came in view.

They both grabbed their guns and slowly made their way to the half-opened door.

Xander may be a lot of things, but carless was not one of them. He would never leave his door opened, not even when he was _in_ the apartment.

They stopped by the door, waited for a second and then Tony harshly kicked the door further open and went in. He caught a glimpse of a dagger buried into the closet next to the door and made a mental note to investigate after the apartment was secured.

He just hoped he wouldn't find a body lying on the floor.

"Clear." He heard Ziva from the kitchen. Opening the bathroom door, he looked in and, relieved at the lack of suspicious evidence, said clear, too. After they swiped the whole place, not finding anything, he didn't know what he should feel. He was relieved that he didn't find Xaner's body, but that didn't mean the agent wasn't harmed.

He returned to the dagger he saw earlier, when entering the apartment. It was imbedded deeply into the wood, which surprised him. It would take a lot of power to do that. He recognized the dagger as one of Xander's, having seen it on a few occasions before. The usually sharp and well cared for dagger bore some black liquid on the blade today.

He must have tried to defend himself before he was taken, Tony concluded in his mind.

"It's safe to say that Xander isn't here and that he at least tried to defend himself, before he was taken. We should call Gibbs. He won't be happy about this."

He sighed. There went his evening plans, flying out of the window. He just knew he would be sleeping in the office. But damn, why would anybody want to hurt a guy like Xander? The one-eyed man was impossible to hate, especially because he could relate with just about anybody.

He could talk with Tony about movies for hours, he could debate with McGee and Abby about computers and stuff and he could fight with Ziva, while discussing which office tools could be useful, if somebody attacked them. Tony personally thought anybody wanting to attack people with office supplies had to be crazy.

Ziva took out her phone and dialed Gibbs. She didn't want to tell him the bad news, but knew that somebody had to and Tony would do anything possible _not_ to be the one.

"_Gibbs_."

"Harris is missing. The door was open when we came, but the place was empty. No signs of struggle except Harris's dagger rammed in the closet door." She knew Gibbs would want to hear only the facts.

"_I'm on my way. Secure the scene, but don't touch anything_." Before she could say anything back the line was dead.

Not easily worried, Ziva found herself filled with concern for Harris. Xander was not a guy that would be taken down lightly and especially not without a fight. That he was taken and there were no signs of fighting and no signs of blood on the scene left her with two scenarios. Whoever it was, was someone who Harris knew or was dangerously powerful. She didn't know which was worst.

"What did he say?" Tony looked at her from the front door still inspecting the dagger.

"Secure the scene, don't touch anything," Ziva said. Tony nodded not surprised at what he heard.

**xXx**

The thirty-five minute ride from the office to Xander's apartment took Gibbs only twenty minutes. McGee didn't even look out of the truck to afraid for his safety, but not willing to say anything. He too was concerned for Xander. The guy was his favorite on the team.

Xander never laughed at him for knowing computer stuff and he always listened, even if he didn't understand what Tim was talking about. Sometimes he even had a debate about some of the computer stuff with him.

Tim really hoped Xander was still alive. If he was, he knew Gibbs would find him and save him. But there was nothing they could do if he wasn't. Well, expect to find the bastard that took him that is.

Gibbs, on the other hand, was already past the initial worrying about Xander's health and already making a list of suspects: a few guys Harris arrested, some sacred group Xander offended a few weeks ago. Then there were a few times he saw Harris with bruises or limping in the office. And the strange phone calls that sometimes took him out of the office for a few days.

Gibbs knew Harris was a part of another agency and that he wasn't able to talk about it. They made that clear the first week of Harris being on his team. That didn't mean he didn't observe the man.

Whatever Harris did before coming to NCIS, made him very observant. Of all of his team, Harris was the only one that was never caught unaware. He sensed Gibbs every time he sneaked up on them, despite having just one eye. Not that he ever alerted the others. Oh no, Harris always let him surprise the agents with his presence.

Harris also had a great respect for women. Of all his colleagues, he never underestimated or ridiculed the women.

Despite Xander's joking demander, Gibbs sometimes saw the face of a man who'd seen a lot of violence. Someone with experience that saw things nobody his age should and lost friends in battle.

The younger agent was a great fighter; he had great fighting skill despite only having one eye. However he was a little hesitant about the guns at first. Actually, Harris usually despised physical confrontations. Usually, he came up with the most unexpected planes that, surprisingly, worked.

Harris never talked about his parents, but he always talked about his honorary family. Gibbs heard all about his sisters and his father. He was certain that whatever Harris was into, they were into it too. Gibbs heard it in the little pauses Xander made while speaking, as though he were editing as he spoke.

But the most important thing Gibbs knew about Harris was that he was a good man, who made his life goal to help and save as many people as he could. And Gibbs was determined that he would not let anybody take that kind of guy from his team.

Every one of Xander's co-workers thought the same thing. They would turn over every stone until they found Xander Harris and the bastard that took him. And better for the bastard that he didn't hurt Xander. Because if he did, may God be merciful with him, because not one of them would be.

* * *

><p>I really hope you liked it. Pleas review or I'm gona be a really sad girl and sad girls don't have inspiration for stories ;P<p>

Elza C. Boe


	3. Chapter 3

_Hey, here is the next chapter of the TM...Sorry for the delay... I just couldn't make it any sooner, but I promis I will try to upload on a weekly basis... I hope you like this chapter... and dont worry just a couple more chapters and then the Scooby gang comes to DC..._

_Great thanks goes to my beta Vanea Taur who is dealing with the mess i'm writing, so that it's at least presentable :P_

_ And by the way I don't own Buffy or NCIS no mater how much I wish i did... tough luck right?_

_Enjoy_

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 3<strong>

The next few hours were filled with cataloging and trying to find anything that would help in the investigation.

Upon inspection, the closet at the entrance held more than shoes and coats. To their surprise it contained daggers, wooden sticks and a crossbow.

In every room they found at least a few hidden weapons, but in the bedroom they found more than just a few. There was a whole closet, dedicated only to weapons: crossbows, swords, axes, daggers, machetes, butterfly knives, nun chucks, water pistols, gallons of water and more tools of the same.

The cache of weapons shocked them into silence.

There was a room full of old books, an almost futuristic looking computer, research material, newspaper and newspaper clips randomly taped on the board or the wall.

On the desk was a birth certificate, passport, a few letters, business cards from various bars and a locked box. The desk, it seemed, held everything Harris needed.

Tony took photos, Ziva measured everything and McGee looked for fingerprints. The concern for their co-worker was almost tangible in the air. After the scene was processed they took all the evidence and headed back to NCIS

xXx

When Tim came to Abby's lab with the evidence, the Goth jumped him the minute the elevator door dinged.

"Oh my god McGee! I couldn't believe when Gibbs called saying Xander was taken! Who would take my little Xander? He's such a sweetheart. He wouldn't even hurt a fly. I'll find the bastards that took Xander and when I find them, Gibbs will make fish food out of them. Not that I would feed fish with something like that. Not even the white shark, although the white shark could eat about anything. But the trash that took Xander is nothing else but trash that I wouldn't even feed to piranhas or sharks…"

"Abby."

"Oh I know, I will ask Ziva for help. We will feed them with their own body parts. She knows what would hurt the most. But first we should castrate the bastards. Ziva could even chop their liver and kidneys and…"

"Abby, stop it!"

Startled, she looked at McGee with eyes full of tears.

"What if he isn't ok? I don't want another Kate. It was so hard the first time and Xander's like a little brother. We played monopoly when I was sick! And he bought Berta for Bert!"

McGee knew how she felt, but didn't know what to do. He and Abby weren't together anymore, but seeing her in pain still bothered him. However, before he could decide what to do, she threw herself into his arms and hugged him.

It took her solid ten minutes to put herself together, but when she did, she threw herself into work with such vigor, that even the end of the world couldn't have stopped her from finding Xander.

In the meantime, Gibbs assigned the team to look into different aspects of Xander's life.

Tony looked into his past and Ziva checked the phone and bank records while McGee helped Abby sort through everything they brought back.

They worked most of the day, before Gibbs wanted to know what they came up with.

"Dinozzo. What do you got?"

Tony pulled up files on the screen. "Alexander Lavelle Harris, age 30, born in Sunnydale, California." Ziva raised an eye brow as the name struck a familiar chord.

"His parents, Anthony and Jessica Harris, are still alive, currently living in Las Vegas. I called them about their son, but all I got was a few profanities and a threat that they would shoot me, if I called again." He looked pointedly at his boss. "It was little over noon and I would say they had more than just one to many drinks."

A new page came on the slide. "I checked his records after that. No social service records, but there were a few police reports for domestic violence and a lot of hospital reports. The police reports stopped in his junior year of high school, but the hospital reports didn't. They got briefer, but a lot more violent. The last I could find was when he lost his eye just before Sunnydale collapsed."

Tim looked at him questionably. "Collapsed?"

"Oh, come on, McGoo, don't tell me you didn't hear about it? A few years back, the whole place sank into the ground. Funny thing was there were just a few casualties although there were no warning signs. No earthquakes or anything. People just started to leave the town on their own."

Gibbs thought that was very suspicious, but that it could wait. First he needed to find Harris. "Go on, Dinozzo."

"So anyway, I said that the police reports stopped. What I meant, was the police reports about domestic violence. Harris was included in several of others after his junior year; a few as a victim, a few as a witness and several as suspect. I thought it was odd, so I checked the Sunnydale PD and let me just say that kids could run it better. From what I gathered it looks like the town was really dangerous and there was a lot of deaths and street violence. The death rate started to decrease in his junior year, but it was still ten times too high for a town that small."

Ziva looked at the numbers and commented, "So basically you are saying that he lived in place that was a war zone."

Tony nodded. "He was also engaged to an Anya Christina Emanuella Jenkins, but they never got married. She was one of those that died when Sunnydale sank. After the Sunnydale disappearing incident, there is little about Harris. He moved to Cleveland for some time, traveled through Africa and a few European countries. While still in Sunnydale, he had a series of jobs and then got a serious job at a construction company, where he worked until Sunnydale sank. I couldn't find him working after that. It's like for a year he lived and traveled and was paid for a job that he didn't do. My guess is that he started to work for the agency he works now and that's why I couldn't find anything. He sure traveled a lot, for a guy that's new, if you know what I mean."

Ziva found it strange that Tony didn't joke once during his briefing. It showed her how serious he was taking this investigation.

Gibbs only nodded and turned his attention to the Israeli. "Ziva."

She took the remote from Tony and clicked a few time, so that a new page came up.

"I looked into Xander's bank records and there were no unusual depositions. He was paid by NCIS and something called ISWO. I tried to investigate it further but was blocked. All I could gather was that the money came from a bank account in Switzerland, but that was about all. I compared the banking statements and there occurred a pattern. He used his credit card at night. I checked the dates with our working hours and it was usually two or three if not more hours after he left work. Mostly he bought drinks and snacks or a few supply things on some occasions, but never at the same location. Sometimes there would be two purchases, a few hours and a lot more miles apart. It's like he walked through the whole city at night."

He couldn't keep it to himself despite the situation. "He was like Batman, patrolling the streets, feared by street thugs, unstoppable and impossible to kill…" He was stopped by a slap on his head from Gibbs.

Ziva didn't bat an eye as she carried on. "His phone record shows a lot of long distance calls. There were seven numbers that repeated themselves daily. I couldn't pull any names, but I got the locations. He called two numbers that are from Scotland, also a number from St. Petersburg, Florida. There is also a number from Cleveland. The other three numbers were probably mobiles. They were used from different locations all around the world every time Xander was in contact with them. I tried to see, if there is any pattern but other than a weekly call to Scotland, which is always at the exact same time, there were none."

She than gave the control to McGee and leaned back on her desk.

"Abby and I went through everything we brought from Xander's apartment. I can put names to the numbers Ziva showed. There are just names or nicknames though. Abby is still working on the black material she took from the dagger. She can't determent its origins, despite the stuff being organic. It's not human or animal; neither does it come from a plant. We cataloged all the weapons from the apartment. All of them are bought legally and have certificates. They vary from middle ages to nowadays and are in excellent condition. Every blade is deadly sharp. Abby analyzed the water and pinpointed the Holy Rosary Church as the place where he got it. I went through every paper we brought with us, but there was nothing helpful except a few business cards from various bars, which might be places he visits. They are all in different locations and of different kind. There is one of the new fancy clubs and on the other hand, there is a biker bar. There are altogether ten cards."

Knowing he was almost finished, but with no tangible results he hesitated for a moment.

"Abby and I are still trying to get into the data base of the computer, but it's heavily coded. It could take a few days."

Gibbs looked him in the eyes when it was apparent McGee had nothing more to add and said, "Call somebody from the cyber unit to come and help Abby with the computer. Tell her that she has a day to figure it out."

Then he looked at the other two members of his team "Dinozzo, David, check all the bars from the cards we brought back, see if anybody can tell us anything useful."

The pair grabbed their gear and shouted in unison "On it, boss."

"McGee, you are with me. We're going to go talk with the people from Holy Rosary church."

As they left on their separate tasks, they failed to notice a flashing light coming from Xander's computer.

* * *

><p><strong>So? What do you think? I would be really greatful if you reviewed... <strong>

**Elza C. Boe**


	4. Chapter 4

_So here is the next chapter. It won't be long before the Scoobs show up, so no worries._

_Insane gratitude to my beta, who makes sure that my writing is presentable, __Venea Taur__._

_And just so we are clear, I don't delude myself that I own NCIS or Buffy. Neither do I own Paul Delgado or Jan Zaveck (who is, by the way, a Slovenian boxer :P)_

_I hope you like it._

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 4<strong>

Gibbs had a gut feeling that they would find something the minute he saw the Holy Rosary church. It was a small church in a good part of the town. When he and McGee entered it, there were only a few people there, one of them being an old nun.

Finding his target, Gibbs took the shortest path to the old nun, sitting in the first row and praying.

"Excuse me, Special Agents Gibbs and McGee. Could we talk for a minute?"

The nun looked at them and smiled. "Certainly. Let's go somewhere else to talk, so that we don't bother others."

She led them through a couple of hallways to a small room lined with bookshelves full of old books and a number of comfortable looking armchairs in the middle.

"I am Sister Theresa. Father Maxwell is unavailable at the moment, but I would be more than happy to help you out. What can I do for you, Special Agent Gibbs?

He showed her the picture of Xander. "Do you know the man on the picture?"

She took a moment to look at the picture than into his eyes. "Yes, I know thw young man in the picture. That is Xander. Alexander Harris I think was his full name. Has something happened to him? Is he alright?"

"He's currently missing."

Sister Theresa took off her glasses and started to clean them. "Oh my. He is a wonderful young boy. Comes here every Sunday, if he gets the chance. Helps, if there is something broken or not working. He takes his time talking to us. The poor boy. He went through so much so young. He still blames himself for the death of that young girl he loved years ago."

"Would that by any chance be a woman named Anya Jenkins?" asked Gibbs. It would make sense if it that was the case. The things they found out about Harris combined with what Gibbs knew about the man by observation would explain the agents occasional slightly depressed behavior.

"Yes, that's the girl's name." said the nun and after seeing the agents face added, "But I doubt his kidnapping has anything to do with her death. Xander told me her death was a result of unfortunate events and that she just wasn't quick enough when his hometown started to collapse."

Gibbs nodded and asked the next question. "When was the last time he was here?"

"On Saturday, four days ago. I remember because he was really sad. Told me it was the anniversary of the day he was supposed to marry."

"Did he talk about being in danger or having any enemies?"

"Yes, quite a bit. Never directly or by names, but he talked about it nonetheless. There were a few of those people, who wished him harm, in the town he grew up. From what I gathered, that was the time he was in danger the most. I believe he was a part of something, something that tried to stop bad things from happening. He was always very vague about those things. After he left there was less danger, but, if I understood correctly, he never stopped helping. I think he said he was a policeman of some sort."

She sighed. "I wish I could help him. He has so many demons hidden beneath his skin."

Gibbs already knew that. Whatever Harris did in the past, it still bothered him. Gibbs could have checked it a long time ago, but something stopped him from doing so.

"What about the water? He had quite the supply of it."

She nodded. "Every so often he would ask for some blessed water. He never really told us why he needed it so much and after the first few times we stopped asking."

"Do you remember anything else that could help us to find him? People he was vary of, places he went, dates he was worried about? Was there anybody he was seeing?"

"No, nothing I remember. He mostly talked about the past. About the people he lost and of some bad experiences he had here in DC. He needed somebody to listen to things that bothered him. And, as far as I can tell, there was no girlfriend. I remember him telling me that he wasn't allowed to date girls unless there was at least one of his friends near to save him. I asked him why and he had the most peculiar answer. He said, 'Since the moment that I started to notice girls, not one of the ones I dated was normal. Most of them were demons, including Cordelia.'"

"Cordelia?" wanted McGee to know.

"I don't know much about her. She is one of Xander's former girlfriends from Sunnydale. He mentioned her sometimes. I believe they are still friends."

Gibbs nodded. He would have to check the name later. He took a card from his pocket and gave it to Sister Theresa. "Thank you for your help. If you remember anything, please call."

Leaving the church McGee had to comment about what they found out.

"That is a really interesting thing to say about exes. Demons. Now that I think about it, I can't remember Xander ever talk about seeing someone."

Gibbs didn't comment. He knew about the demon exes. Hell, he _had_ three ex-wives.

xXx

Tony and Ziva had little luck finding any information. In most of the bars, the workers knew Xander, knew he was a regular and knew when he would come, but that was about it. Nobody could remember if he ever talked about people that he didn't get along with or being in danger.

Despite working together for four years, they, embarrassingly, knew little about him. They hoped the bars Xander frequented would shed some light on the mystery.

A little luck smiled down on them when they visited a bike bar.

It was mostly empty. A few bikers were playing pool. They stopped to watch Tony and Ziva, as the two of them went to the bar. They were prepared to start a fight, if they felt threatened by the newcomers.

The bartender, an old fat man with a mustache and a goat beard looked at them. "This aint' a place for you. Better if you leave before you get into trouble."

Tony took the photo out of the pocket and laid it on the bar. "We just want to know, if you recognize this man."

The man looked at the picture, his face hardening, but he revealed nothing.

"I ain't know nothing. Now you better leave. We don't like trouble in here."

Ziva tried one more time before leaving. "The man is currently missing. We are trying to find who took him and bring him back."

The bartender took a moment to look at the female NCIS agent before asking. "Why should I believe that? There are plenty of cops who would lie to get a guy behind bars."

Ziva looked the man in the eyes before she said, "Because he is our partner."

The bartender wasn't swayed though. "I ain't that stupid to fall for that. You cops don't give a shit about people like us. You could easily be lying to me through your pearly whites."

Tony pulled out his phone and after a few moments showed the bartender a picture of him and Xander. It was taken after one of their cases about a missing marine, so they still wore the NCIS hats. They both were making funny faces at the camera.

"Well I be damned. The guy really is a cop. I never would have guessed."

Putting the phone away, Tony tried again. "As my partner already asked, do you know this man?"

The bartender looked at them and nodded. "Yes, that is Xander. He comes here every now and then. Great guy, he isn't a biker, but not _one_ of the guys here would want to get in trouble with him."

That surprised the NCIS agents. Yes, Xander was a great fighter, but that usually didn't stop people from trying to fight. There were always people that wanted to prove that they were better. "How come?" Ziva's asked.

"There was a fight the first night he came here. He came in, covered in scratches and there was some blood. Billy there," the bartender paused and pointed towards one of the men playing pool, "He decided he didn't like him, started to make trouble for the guy. The shit stopped the second he touched the beer in front of your guy. Xander grabbed his hand, nearly broke it and said something like 'If you ever touch my drink, a broken arm will be the least of your problems.' Now usually that would lead to a full out fight, but the guys didn't dare to get into his range after the glare he gave. Now they just try to beat him at pool instead."

Tony looked around the place, thinking that he never really saw Harris glaring and wondered if it was anything close to Gibbs's glare. "Is there anybody he talked to? Somebody he was close to here?"

Polishing a glass, the bartender shook his head. "Not really. He came, he ordered a beer and then he played pool. Sometimes he sat at the bar and talked with people about bikes, but that was rare. Never really talked about himself, but then again nobody here does."

Both agents were disappointed again. It was just like in the other bars. He didn't talk with anybody regularly, didn't talk about himself, nothing. "Could you tell us, if he ever talked about having trouble or behaved strangely?

"Now that I think about it, there was. A few times actually. He was all antsy when he got here, didn't talk to anybody and just watched his phone. Left the second it started to ring. And there was the time he got really drunk. That guy is really loud when drunk. Talked about a harem he got back in Scotland and how he would have ended six feet under a long time ago if not for them. There was also some talking about a Scooby gang, but I didn't really get that."

"You said he was really antsy sometimes. Could you remember when the last time was?" The bartender stopped polishing a glass for a minute, but didn't answer immediately.

"A few weeks ago, I think. I can't really remember the date."

A guy came to the bar. "What are you lot talking about?" he put an empty beer bottle on the bar. "John, give me another beer."

The bartender opened the bottle of beer and gave it to the biker. "Cops are looking for Xander."

"Damn, I knew the kid was dangerous, but I never thought he would get involved into something that would get the cops on his tail."

"No, somebody kidnapped him. The cops are trying to find him. Hey, do you remember the time Xander was all tense and quiet? Last time, when Tommy's girl tried to get in his pants? When was that?"

"That's easy. That was the night Jan Zaveck beat Paul Delgado. Nasty fight I'm telling you. I lost a fortune on that guy, had to sleep in the dog house for days. Man, was Lotty pissed."

After that, the two agents didn't get any more useful information and left.

"Just one more bar and then we are through the lot. I never knew Harris had such weird taste for bars." Tony started the car and looked at the GPS. "And now we have to drive through half of the city! Couldn't he go to bars that are closer together?"

The Israeli just laughed at her partner's rant. He was such a complainer sometimes. "Don't worry Tony, it's the last one and then we can take a lunch break."

That made Tony drive even faster. "Ok, so let's finish this. What do we know?"

Ziva looked at her notes. "Well, we know that he went to the bars regularly. Probably had some schedule or something. He rarely talked to people about himself, never hooked up and only seldom got really drunk. On more than one occasion, he came looking like he was in a fight and in some places people looked like they feared him. And then, there were those weird phone calls the bartender from the last bar mentioned. I will check that out, when we are back at the office."

Tony was not happy knowing that was it. It was strange if you thought about it. They worked for four years together, they were friends, hell, he even invited Xander on Spring break and jet now that he was investigating him he was finding out that he didn't really knew about the one-eyed agent.

Half-sarcastic he said to Ziva, "So let's see what the good people at Andy's can't tell us about Xander."

Ziva later thought how ironic it must be that the good people at Andy's didn't want to tell them anything about Xander.

When she and Tony walked into the bar the first thing they heard was, "We are closed!" No matter what they said, the bartender wouldn't budge. He didn't know Xander, he never saw Xander and they better get out before he called security and threw them out.

"They know something," she said, when they came back to the car. "The question is what."

Tony unlocked the car and got behind the wheel. "We will have to see if we can find that out back at the office. I just hope it will lead us to Harris."

Meanwhile the bartender looked around the office for the card he knew he had somewhere. Finally finding it, he took the phone and dialed the familiar number.

"Boss, we have a huge problem. Human cops were looking for Xander Harris. What do we do?"

* * *

><p><strong>So? What do you think? I'm eagerly waiting for your replies :P…. the more the better :P<strong>

**Elza C. Boe**


	5. Chapter 5

_Heiii folks…. I know, I know, you are going to say that I'm super late….. I'm really sorry it took this long for this chapter to be posted… The thing is that there was a small mistake in my story that my beta pointed out to me. Because of that teensy weensy mistake I had to rewrite the whole chapter… I swear there are only five sentences that are from the first version. I hope you will like the chapter anyway :P…._

_And a fair warning…. I might be late with the new chapter, because I will have to rewrite it too. But I promise I will try to finish it as so as I can. _

_Special thanks to my beta __Venea Taur__ for her hard work. Without you my story wouldn't be half as good as it is. _

_Also thanks to everyone that is reading my story. It really means a lot to me that people take their time to read this._

_Enjoy_

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 5<strong>

It was already dark outside when Gibbs came into the bullpen, demanding an update. He didn't like how his team looked so somber.

"Tony and I visited all the bars on the list. Didn't get anything really useful there. People recognized him but he never talked much about himself," said Ziva.

"The bartender from the bike bar did tell us about these phone calls Harris received occasionally. Apparently every now and then he's contacted by someone. Nothing suspicious about that except that according to the bartender he gets anti-social," added Tony.

"I checked the date we got from the bartender. Harris received a call at two fifteen three weeks ago. I tried to get a name and address, but the only thing I got was that the phone was bought by ISWO, the organization Harris is working with." Ziva rubbed her forehead looking at her papers.

"Now before you may ask, yes I did check what the letters stand for. I tried everything. I googled it, I called in some favors, hell, I even went to the cyborg unit. Nothing. Nada. Whatever it is that the organization is doing it's highly classified. More classified than any other agency or secret op." Tony paced, looking slightly agitated.

"Maybe I could…" tried McGee, but was interrupted by Tony, who stopped pacing and looked angrily at the younger agent.

"McGee, I just told you it's not possible to do. This whole organization is so secured with protections that a computer down in the basement set on fire when a geek tried to hack into ISWO."

Ziva interjected before a full on fight could erupt. "So anyway, there was a bar that was really suspicious. Andy's. We ran a background check on it, but it came out clean. Although I must say that their inventory really creeps me out. Among other things they frequently buy blood, both human and animal."

"Who's the owner?" asked Gibbs. He too saw how tetchy his team was because of the lack of sleep and wanted to find Xander as soon as posible.

"Some guy named Lantean Chaya," answered Tony.

"You checked him out?" said Gibbs impatiently.

"Tried," came the answer from Tony.

"Now what's that supposed to mean?" Gibbs didn't tolerate excuses.

"That I don't have high enough clearance to access his files."

That was a whole new angel for Gibbs. If there was clearance needed that the government was involved. That usually wasn't something good, when Gibbs was concerned. "Is he on government paycheck?"

"I don't know."

"Then find out." Could it be that Harris was kidnapped because of his ties to the ISWO? He would check that theory tomorrow. Director Vance was going to inform the people from ISWO about the situation. Gibbs had only twenty-four hours to solve the case before the other organization got contacted and started to meddle in his investigation..

"On it boss."

"McGee, what do you got about the names sister Theresa gave us?"

"Well, Anya Jenkins is presumed dead. She was a co-owner of a store named Magic Box along with Rupert Giles, a British citizen that lived at Sunnydale at that time. I checked the cause of death. It says that she fell into the hole when Sunnydale collapsed. No known relatives," answered McGee showing the candid picture of a blond woman. He then transferred a new picture on the big screen showing an attractive young brunette.

"The other woman is Cordelia Chase. Born and raised in Sunnydale. She is the same age as Harris so they might have went to school together. She currently lives in Los Angeles. I couldn't find any mention of current employment. She acted in a few commercials and plays but that doesn't account for all the money that she's been receiving."

"Could she be involved in Harris's kidnapping?" Gibbs asked. God knows, he dealt with enough cases where exes wanted revenge.

"I highly doubt it. She's in a coma right now." answered the young agent.

"Basically it's a dead end," offered Tony.

"Keep looking," said Gibbs and turned around to leave the bullpen.

"We'll find Harris," said Tony. They knew that their chances of finding him were dwindling, with every minute Xander was missing. It became apparent that they would need outside help in locating him.

"I know you will. Now go get some rest. You are no good if you're dead on your feet."

xXx

Director Vance came had just gotten into his office that morning, when security called him.

"Director Vance, there is a woman here asking to see you. A Dawn Summers from ISWO." The news surprised him. He hadn't even contacted the agency yet they were already here.

"Bring her to my office." He sighed. This early in the morning and he would have to maneuver through mine field already.

"Yes sir." answered the security guy calmly.

Looking through his papers, he decided what to say to the newcomer. He didn't want to worsen the relations with the other agency, but he didn't want someone else to take this case.

He was fully prepared when his secretary ringed him that Miss Summers was waiting outside his door. What he wasn't prepared for was the fact that Miss Summers in his mind didn't match the Ms. Summers in reality.

He was expecting a stuffy old lady with stern face, but there she was, barely over twenty, relaxed and radiating. She was dressed in a beige trouser suit and with her long, richly brown hair loose, holding a briefcase in her left hand.

She stepped forward and offered her hand. "Director Vance. I'm Dawn Summers, ISWO. But you already knew that seeing how the agent downstairs called you."

"Miss Summers, I'm Director Vance. Please, sit." Still holding her hand, he offered her a chair. When she was comfortably seated he continued, "Now, what can I do for you?"

He felt her eyes sizing him up, estimating the kind of a person he was. He got a lot of those kinds of looks, but hers was the first since he became Director that unnerved him. "I'm here, as I'm sure you know, because of the disappearance of one of your agents. Alexander Lavelle Harris."

He felt slightly ashamed that they caught them leading an investigation directly linked with one of their members without notifying them. "I see. Yes, my team is already investigating that."

She smiled at him slightly. "Director Vance, your delay at notifying our organization is a little concerning, but this is not the time to discuss it and neither am I the person you will have the discussion with. Right now our primary concern is to find Special Agent Harris and bringing him back alive. I am here to make sure that happens." Her smile may have been sweet, but her eyes stayed sharp the whole time. Vance was surprised to notice that the small woman could do what Gibbs never succeeded. She intimidated him.

"Of course. I have already put our best people on this case. They can brief you on our progress so far." It was a poor attempt to convince the ISWO to let NCIS investigate the case on their own.

"Just so there are no misunderstandings Director Vance, ISWO is taking lead in this investigation." It was said in a gentle tone, but her sharp eyes sent a message that there would be no middle ground on this.

It actually pissed Vance of that she toughed that NCIS would let her do whatever she liked. "Forgive my bluntness, Miss Summers" he began coolly, "but I do not see why I should give you the lead in this investigation. If we put aside your age, my agents are well experienced in dealing with such situations."

She smiled back at him, not showing any sign that his words upset her in any way. "Director Vance, your people might be experienced in dealing with kidnappings, but not with this kind of kidnappings. And let me just say that our agency doesn't judge people because of their age or gender." The later was added with a slight bite to it, warning him that such things would not be tolerated.

He looked at her apologetic, trying to smooth the riff he just caused with his words. "I didn't mean to judge, Miss Summers. My intent was to point out that my agents have more experience. And with what kind of situation are we dealing if not with kidnapping?"

"I'm not allowed to say Director. The most I can tell you is that our members deal with this kind of things all the time and that your agents aren't prepared to take the lead in such a delicate situation."

She smiled again, but her eyes remained serious. He could see that she wouldn't budge, that her mind was already made. Nonetheless, he gave it one more try.

"Alright, let me call the agent in lead of my team up, so that you can acquaint yourself with him." He lifted the receiver. "Cynthia, could you call Special Agent Gibbs to my office."

"Of course, Director."

The young brunette sighed and then looked determinately at the man on the other side of the table. "Director, it seems that I didn't make myself clear. ISWO is taking over this case, no matter what. The involvement of NCIS is strictly optional."

"I hope you don't hold it against me if I don't believe solely your word. Is there anything to back that statement up?" Leaning on his table, he watched the young woman open the briefcase and pulling out some papers

"Here are all the necessary documents."

He glanced at them before addressing her again. "I apologize for my rudeness. Would you like anything to drink while we wait for Special Agent Gibbs?" He couldn't say anything else to the brunette, but Gibbs wouldn't have any political concerns. Vance could still apologize if the agent went too far.

Dawn sent him a charming smile. "Yes, tea would be nice, thank you. I was in such rush this morning I had no time for tea."

Vance reached for the receiver again. "Cynthia, could you bring tea for Ms. Summers.

The woman on the other end answered politely. "Yes sir."

"Thank you."

While they waited, Vance went through the documents, that he was sure were legitimate, but it was better to be through. To distract herself, Dawn looked at the pictures on the walls. She studied psychology when she was still in Rom and she could read what kind of a person he is by seeing his working place.

Cynthia came with the tea and distracted Dawn from studying the man in the office. Shortly after that the door opened again and in came the agent they were waiting for.

"Vance. What do you want?" He walked directly to the desk where Vance was sitting, only glancing at the other person in the room.

The director pointed with his hand towards the brunette in the room. "Ah, Special Agent Gibbs, meet Miss Summers, a member of ISWO. She is here because of the disappearance of Special Agent Harris."

"Miss Summers." Gibbs turned towards her and slightly bowed his head.

"Special Agent Gibbs. I heard many things about you. I'm looking forward working with you," she answered, acknowledging his presence.

"Excuse me?" Gibbs looked at the director.

Knowing what kind of reaction he was going to get Vance took on his best poker face. "The ISWO is taking over this case."

Gibbs reacted just as the director predicted. He got this incredible look on his face and almost accusingly exclaimed at Vance. "What? We are letting them take our case?" The vain in his neck became visible as it pulsed blood to the older man's face.

Trying to diffuse the sudden tension, Dawn stepped closer and started to talk to the agent with her smoothing voice. "Don't worry agent Gibbs, you are more than welcomed to help with the investigation."

Gibbs turned his attention to the woman and looked closely at her. "You are just a kid. You should be in school or something not here playing cop." He was getting louder and louder.

His words stuck a cord in Dawn, making her raise her defenses and leashing back. "I'm not a kid. I've been doing this since I was a teenager. Unlike _some_ people, I know I can handle this bullshit here."

That fueled Gibbs's anger even more. "A teenager! What kind of an organization hires kids? Who in their right mind would let little girls go into dangerous situations?" He was standing toe to toe with the young woman towering almost threatening over her small frame.

Dawn already regretted her jab at the agent. She knew angering the agent wouldn't help, but she was pushed into shadows too many times because of her age to be really indifferent to Gibbs's words. "I know quite a lot of people who would do that Agent Gibbs. But in my case it was the other way around. I was after all one of those that rebuild our organization."

Gibbs turned back to Vance. "Director this is insane. Since when do we let kids play with guns? My team can handle this on their own." Kids were after all supposed to be protected from, not pushed into danger. He would have done anything to be able to save his daughter when she was still alive.

"Your team will end up in a ditch, if you get even near the truth. Our newly recruited, untrained members could beat anybody in this agency without breaking a sweat." She wasn't trying to add fuel to the fire, but they had to understand that they were amateurs playing in the professional league.

It still upset the agent, making him even angrier. "You're saying some kid barely out of school can do a better job of hunting down some criminals than my highly trained agents?"

She sighed. This was going to be a long day. "No, Agent Gibbs, that's not what I meant. I'm merely stating the obvious. Our agency deals with higher levels of terrorism. The girls that work with us know the risks and are trained accordingly."

It was like he was zeroing in on the bad stuff, ignoring everything else. "You let girls deal with terrorism? With dangers that you say are too risky for a Marine?"

Dawn looked at her watch before answering. "Look, as much as I would like to continue arguing with you about the differences in our organizations the clock is ticking. With every minute we waste here talking, Xander is out there dying."

Seeing his opening the director joined the discussion. "You're right, Miss Summers. You can take the lead in this investigation, but I expect to be properly informed about the progress."

"Oh no, Director Vance…" started Dawn saying, but was interrupted by the phone on the desk.

Vance looked apologetically at the young woman and picked up the receiver. "Excuse me. Yes?"

It was again the agent at the security desk downstairs. "Miss Summers from ISWO is at the security check. She's saying she wants to see you, Director."

The news surprised Vance, who quickly glanced at the brunette in his office. He would have to get to the bottom of this. It might even give Gibbs enough time to find his missing agent without interference.

"Escort her up to the conference room."

"Yes, sir," answered the man on the other side of the receiver.

Vance turned his full attention back to the woman that was standing next to Gibbs. "Miss Summers, could you step into the conference room with me for a moment. Gibbs, you too." The later was added almost as an afterthought.

"Sure, no problem. Is there something wrong? You look a little unsettled Director." Dawn picked up her briefcase and fallowed the two men.

"I'm fine, thank you." He didn't want to tip her off in case she was the imposter.

Dawn just got seated in the conference room when the door opened and an agent lead in a young blond woman clad in tight black leather pants, a red tank top and six–inch heels.

"I see you took the time to buy new clothes, sis. Thought this was urgent and we didn't have time to waste." The brunette said to the newcomer, her voice full of sarcasm.

"It is urgent, but first impressions are important. You know what mom always said. Don't leave the house if you don't like what you see in the mirror," answered the blond walking to her alleged sister.

"Bullshit. Mom never said that. You're making stuff up again. You're spending too much time with Oz," protested Dawn.

To say that the agents currently in the room were surprised would be an understatement. Vance didn't know what to think about the two women looking different as night and day yet having the same air of danger around them.

Finally acting as someone of her position, the blonde offered her hand to the director. "Let me introduce myself. Buffy Summers. You could say I'm in charge of the doers at the ISWO." She gave the man her best Californian smile that fooled so many others to think that she was harmless.

Her statement clearly insulted the younger looking woman. "Oh? And what are my people? Chopped liver? We do just as much as you do. The fact that they are more research types instead of field agents doesn't mean that they don't pull their weight." She crossed her arms and glared at the blond, who raised her hands in defense.

"Geez, relax Dawn. I didn't mean anything bad."

Vance interrupted before the argument could go any further. "If I may interrupt. What is this all about?"

"I thought you straightened everything up already." Buffy looked at her sister. That was after all the reason why the younger woman came here earlier.

"Most of it. You just interrupted me with the last part," answered Dawn. She looked at director Vance and told him what she wanted to clarify before the phone call interrupted her. "It's not me who's going to be in charge. It's her."

Both men looked from the professionally dressed young woman to the woman dressed as though she was at a concert.

Buffy didn't let herself to be discouraged by the skeptical looks she was receiving from the agents. "So, when do we meet the team?"

* * *

><p><strong>So? Was it worth to wait so long for a new chapter? I really need reviews right now. Thanks.<strong>

**Elza C. Boe**


	6. Chapter 6

_Here I am again. I know, I was gone for ages and I'm really sorry. I tried to rewrite this chapter as quick as I could but my inner muse just didn't want to cooperate. We finally came to an agreement and here is the end result._

_Special thanks to my beta __Vanea Taur__, for all she has done for this story and for teaching me new things to make my story even better._

_I would also like to take this opportunity to address a particular issue that was mentioned in your comments. Some of you mentioned the lack of a slayer in DC. It is something that will be addressed on a few occasions during the story. So no need to worry that it's just something that escaped my mind while writing this story._

_I would like to add that anybody that died in BtVS is dead, so no Spike, no Tara, no Anya et cetera._

_For the record, I don't own BtVS or SG-1, so no funny businesses._

_Now I think it's time to see what the new chapter brings._

_I hope you like it._

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 6<strong>

There are many things in life that you can never be prepared for. A snow blizzard for an instant or falling in love, death of a loved one. And the Summers sisters. There is nothing that could prepare you for the incredible experience when meeting the Summers sisters. At least that was what McGee was thinking, when Gibbs brought the two women to the bullpen.

Ziva took one look at the two women and automatically went on the defense. The look she was receiving from the older sister, Buffy, slightly unnerved the Israeli. It felt like the blond was sizing her up, deciding if Ziva was a treat. After a few moments the Israeli received a nod in acknowledgment, making her feel like she past some important test. Ziva nodded back at her and the air between the former Mossad officer and Buffy Summers instantaneously cleared.

Tony was, of course, distracted by the beauty of the two new arrivals and didn't notice the initial tension between his partner and the older Summers sister. He was, after all, in his core still a lady's man. Plus, the DiNozzo charm was never meant for one woman only.

Tim, on the other hand, tried to figure out what they were doing there. He could see that Gibbs wasn't happy about the women, but that could mean anything. He almost choked on air when he found out that the two sisters came to take over their case.

It was almost unimaginable to think that the two women fighting over which color clashed with orange were influential enough to come in and take over.

"So, what exactly are we dealing with? We read the initial report but I'm guessing that you got more intel by now," Dawn asked the team after she finished the fight she had with Buffy.

"Yeah, what do you got on Xander?" Buffy looked towards Gibbs with her big, innocent eyes.

You could see by his sour expression that Gibbs didn't really want to tell her anything, but he nodded to his team nonetheless.

Taking the nod as permission to talk about the investigation, Tony started telling the facts that they knew by now.

"Alexander Lavelle Harris, born in Sunnydale, California, on…"

He was interrupted by Buffy. "I know where Xander was born, gorgeous. Why don't we skip that part and go straight to his time in DC?" She then sat down at Xander's desk and started to browse through his drawers. With a soft exclamation of glee she pulled out the stash of Twinkies Xander had hidden in the last drawer.

It wasn't that she particularly liked Twinkies. Buffy actually hated them, but she ate Xander's secret stash every chance she got. It really bugged him when Buffy did that. That was actually the whole fun in eating that horrible stuff.

"Ok, I'm all set. Let's start." She bit in her Twinkie and made a face. "Dawn do you want one? Xander has a bigger stash of these horrible little things than last time and I'm going to get sick if I try to eat them all alone."

Dawn sighed and reached for the offered treat. Xander and Buffy had played their little eat-my-candy game since high school and it was pointless to try to stop them. Dawn actually liked Twinkies. And it made her feel at least a little better to release her worry by making sure that Xander would be properly punished when he came back. Because he had to come back.

Served Xander right for being taken and worrying everybody. If he wanted to be a stubborn idiot that refused to have a slayer making sure he was ok every once and then, then Dawn had no problem with eating his candy.

Tony watched the two women, imagining how high their maintenance must be. "Ok, the last four years Harris lived and worked in DC. We checked his credit cards. There was nothing indicating that he dealt with any shady business. His phone records showed that he kept in contact with people all over the world…"

Buffy raised her hand. "Yeah, that'd be us." She smiled sweetly at the NCIS agents and bit in the Twinkie, making a disgusted face again.

"Why is it that he called so often?" asked Ziva curiously. The phone calls happened on a daily basis and they weren't exactly cheap.

This time it was Dawn that answered. "Well, Xander and I watch Ranch of Secret Love together over the phone almost every day." She got a horrified expression on her face and covered her mouth with her hand. "Oh I missed today's episode, too. Anne told me that yesterday Enrique came back and that he and Maria had a big fight, but then they had lots of sex at the end. And Martin found out that Alejandro stole his money. I bet he is going to kill that little rat."

Buffy rolled her eyes and covered Dawn's mouth to stop her from talking. "Dawn, can you think about your soup operas later? We're trying to find Xander right now."

"Oh yeah. Sorry. Carry on," apologized the small brunette sheepishly.

"You and Harris are friends," inquired Tim. He started to question how much of what the team found strange about Xander's life could be explained with such simple answers from someone who obviously knew him very well.

"Well, he was Buffy's class mate in high school and I had a big crush on him a while back, but yeah, he is a friend. A close one at that too." Dawn smiled and reached for another Twinkie on the table. She had missed breakfast that morning and was getting a little hungry.

"So, why exactly did Harris want to be a cop?" Tony didn't really get why Harris would want to leave his previous job and work lousy hours for not much better seller. The one-eyed agent was well paid for his previous job, he was able to travelled a lot _and_ he had lots of women around him. Who in their right mind would exchange that for being a cop?

Dawn looked thoughtfully at Tony before she answered, "Well, he said that he would go nuts if he remained in our organization. I must confess that we do have a rather stressful environment at our work place."

"You sound like Giles," Buffy laughed at her sister.

Dawn crossed her arms and glared at the blond. "I spend a lot of time with Giles I'll have you know. There is a lot of paper work to do and it's lonely to be doing it alone all the time."

"What exactly do you do at ISWO?" Gibbs wanted to know. He listened to the sisters till now, but they didn't give him any useful information. "And what do the initials even mean?"

"ISWO means International Schools of Wisdom and Oaths," answered Dawn automatically with the pre learned explanation. She regretted it the second she said it. Since Dawn worked mainly with schooling the new watchers, slayers and their parents she used a different cover story then the slayers that dealt with police. But now that she said that much she had to go with the flow. "Xander worked with teenage girls and if that isn't stressful I don't know what is."

Buffy glared at her sister. Things got a lot more complicated now that NCIS knew about one of the layers of the International Slayer and Watcher Organization.

"ISWO is a school?" looked Ziva incredible at the two sisters. Things weren't really adding up for her.

"No. ISWO is the organization that controls several private schools all around the world." answered Buffy. Now that they had to go with the school story, she had to tell it truthfully.

"Then why all the secrecy?" asked Tony dumbly. He was a little behind and didn't yet notice the things that didn't match together.

Dawn sighed and told them the little speech that the ISWO prepared. "It's a private school. You don't apply for it, you are chosen. They public started to protest about our methods for gaining new students so we stopped with informing the public."

"And why exactly would a school worker take over an investigation?" asked Gibbs in his no nonsense voice. He listened quietly to what the two sisters told them and he didn't like what he heard. He was sure that the sisters were telling them only half-truths.

Buffy looked at Gibbs and used her innocent puppy dog eyes on him. "Because I'm not a school worker, technically speaking. Anyway, this is a special school and the president appreciates our area of expertise." Her innocent face lost all innocence when she bit in the Twinkie again.

Dawn saw that this conversation was heading the same way it went in director Vance's office and interrupted before Gibbs could start arguing with them again. "Look, ISWO isn't important right now. Right now we need to find Xander, so can we go on with the details?"

Tim, who also saw the fruitlessness of the argument, returned the conversation back to the details of the investigation. "Yeah, sure. We looked over his apartment and we found a few interesting things. These..."

"We know what these are," said Dawn, interrupting him, when McGee brought pictures of the entire collection of swords, knives and other weapons they found in Xander's apartment on the screen. She really didn't want him to go into details what every piece of that was.

"You know weapons?" Ziva looked doubtfully at the little brunette.

"Part of our education is lessons about weapons. Like I said, we are a special school," answered Buffy in her sister's stead.

"We also found a lot of water with the weapons," continued Tim. "We traced it back to the Holy Rosary church. A nun there talked with us, but she couldn't tell us much. We found out that he had a guilty conscience about a girl dying..."

The sisters knew exactly about whom he was talking. "Anya."

"She was something special," added Buffy.

"Bunnies." It was a simple word, uttered by Dawn, but it made both, Buffy and Dawn, giggle at the memories of their friend and her fear of the little creatures.

"Could someone have taken Harris because she died," asked Tony.

"If any of her friends really thought Xander killed her they would have dealt with him years ago," said Buffy. If any of the vengeance demons blamed Xander for Anya's fait,h they would have acted promptly.

"That's a no," clarified Dawn in case they didn't understand what Buffy wanted to tell.

"What about Cordelia Chase?" asked Tim. The two sisters seemed to know awful a lot about Xander's personal life after all.

"Cordy. Now see, that's better," answered Buffy, sounding really amused. "Cordelia would be entirely capable of kidnapping and torturing Xander." She paused for a second to make things more dramatic. "Unfortunately for you they parted as friends despite what happened between them and my sources tell me that she is currently in a coma."

"Anyone else that dislikes Harris," Ziva questioned further.

Dawn shook her head. "Not that I know. Harris has this annoying ability that makes everybody like him. But sometimes we unintentionally piss off some people with our actions." She gave everyone a look that said _what can we do_.

"So that's a dead end too." sighed Tony in frustration.

"Didn't say that," chipped Buffy in. She eyed the last Twinkie on the table, mentally debating if she should eat it or not. Dawn saved her by taking the offensive thing and starting to eat it. "I'm gonna visit some people and then we will see if Xander pissed off another wacko." She then gave a pointed look at McGee, prompting him to continue with the information exchange.

"Ok. Harris's apartment. Yes, we found his computer but our people are still trying to decode it." It was actually getting annoying that he, Abby and Maurice from cyber unit couldn't decode a simple computer.

But the sisters just smiled at his frustrated expression. Buffy then tried to comfort him. "You won't decode that thing. I'd bet all my shopping money on that." Of course her attempt didn't really work.

"Why is that? We have some really capable people working on this." Tim was almost offended that the blond didn't believe that they could crack the code.

Dawn proudly told them the reason. "Because we have a genius in our folds. She wrote all the programs on that computer. The only way you will get in that computer is with a code or if Willow hacks in."

Tim made a note to ask about that later and continued to report. "There was also a box we can't open. Abby and I tried everything. The box just stayed locked and unharmed. "

"Ah, that's one of Xander's special boxes," guessed Buffy. "He made them for Christmas a few years back. All his friends have one. It's a good place to hide things from other people. It has a secret lock that only the owner and of course Xander know about." The Scoobys would probably be able to open it too, considering that they had to open some boxes a few years ago. The locations of the triggers that opened the boxes were sometimes forgotten.

"Could you open it?" Tony asked hopefully. He itched to know what Xander was hiding in that box of his.

Buffy shrugged before answering. "I could try. What else do you got?"

"We found a stack of business cards for various bars in the area." Tim brought up the photos of the cards in question.

Before anybody could say anything else, loud music started to play, making the team look around trying find the source of the annoying music while Dawn made a face at Buffy. "I thought that you got fed up with that song already."

Buffy just gave her a rebellious look a theatric replay that hinted that this was an ongoing argument. "Never." Diverting her attention to the agents she apologized quickly," Now if you would excuse me, I have to take this." She went to the windows to achieve a little privacy and answered the phone.

The team looked at the two sisters and wondered what exactly was going on. The sisters acted relaxed, like they had no worries in the world, but at the same time they urged everyone around them to work harder to find Harris.

Tony, trying to start a conversation with the younger Summers sister, said the first thing that came to mind. "So, ISWO."

Seeing the agent's intention, Dawn decided that it couldn't hurt to play along. "Xander calls it Infernal Schools for Wicked and Obsessed. Of course, he calls it like that only if Buffy or Willow aren't in hearing range. Half the stuff he renamed would get him killed if the two of them found out."

"That sounds… dangerous," commented Tim.

"Hey, its women's world, that kind of mocking is punished by law," half joked Dawn. The slayers were nice and cuddly until you pissed them off. Then there was hell to pay. The witches were even worse. They tended to hold grudges.

"They left Harris alive," added Ziva. She knew first hand that Xander often lacked the filter between his brain and his mouth.

"Xander is special. You just can't be mad at Xander for too long. You start to feel guilty."

Ziva just made a face. That was something she knew first hand, too.

"That was Willow," said Buffy, walking back in the bullpen and interrupting the conversation.

"Did we get any more tips?" asked Dawn, wishing that the bad guys would surrender now rather than later. The end result was going to be the same either

"Tips? You get tips about missing people?" Tony was amazed and baffled.

"Not exactly." smiled Buffy a predatory smile. "Usually we _make_ them talk. But on rare occasions people tend to give information willingly to us. Especially when some of the more important members get hurt or disappear. Nobody wants the sla… ISWO on high alert. When it's one of the five most important persons of the ISWO missing? Let's just say that we have a policy that says that anything is acceptable. The new members like to experiment and have an interesting imagination. Let me just say that it ain't pretty. And no. No new tips for us. But Willow is on her way here right now." That told Dawn all she needed to know.

Before she and Buffy left for Washington the heads of ISWO had a meeting and it was decided that Willow would come in DC when she got all the information she could on the demon that could have taken Xander. There couldn't be a lot of them that have black blood or goo after all.

"Oh goody. What about Satsu and the rest of your girls?" That was a part of the things they discussed at the meeting too. They came to an agreement that the slayers stationed in America would stay in their territories and that Buffy's squad would take care of this situation.

"The plane should have landed an hour ago so I'm guessing that they are making themselves comfortable at the apartment." Buffy didn't even want to think in what state the apartment would be when she returned back.

"You are bringing more people into this?" asked Gibbs suspiciously.

"Sure. It's Xander we are talking about. We want to bust him out of wherever he is soon. Plus, you never know in what kind of mess he got himself into this time," answered Buffy. Xander was a real demon magnet and all the usual demons wanted to sacrifice him for one reason or another.

"So what were you saying about the bars," asked Dawn, wanting to finish with this briefing.

"We visited all of them. People usually remembered Harris, but nobody had anything useful to tell us. In one of the bars the bartender told us about the strange phone calls…" Tony was interrupted before he could say anything else.

"Strange phone calls? Strange how?" Strange was usually the thing that got them in trouble, thought Dawn.

"Harris was acting really nervous before getting a phone call. After that, he left the bar. It happened a few times," clarified McGee.

Buffy was a little disappointed. That wouldn't help either. "Ah. No worries. That was probably when he was playing host for any of the ISWO people. We have an apartment in DC, but most prefer bunking with Xander." He was a legend after all among the slayers. And he acted as some kind of a therapist to those who needed talking. Buffy found it really funny that he never figured out that all the Slayers came to him so that he could help them deal with their problems.

"The last bar we visited is the most suspicious, but there isn't any evidence that they had anything to do with Harris's abduction," continued Tony.

"Again, suspicious how?" sighed Buffy. It seemed that the agents couldn't just explain things without being asked to.

"When we visited the place they threw us out even after we showed our badges. And after we looked a little deeper we found some strange things. Part of things they order daily is blood," Ziva answered, a disgusted look on her face

Buffy perked up and gave her sister a brilliant smile. "Well that settles could have Xander back before the evening." She picked all the papers that were left from the Twinkie-feast and put them into the trash bin.

"Oh snap Buffy, you just jinxed it," complained Dawn and started to tell her sister of all the times things went south because people said stuff like that.

Together they left the bullpen and headed to the bathroom.

When they were out of the hearing range of the agents, Buffy informed Dawn of everything Willow told her. "She said that there are only three possible demons that took Xander based on the black goo we found. Two of them are really nasty demons that like killing for fun and the other one are demons that live with normal people and are generally peaceful."

"So that one's out," asked Dawn. Peaceful demons didn't kidnap people after all.

"Not really. Willow said that they shouldn't be dangerous, but they started WWI, because some idiot killed a mate of the leader." Buffy looked at her watch and sighed.

"So we classify them as potential danger if provoked then," clarified Dawn.

"Something like that. Willow also said that she would be teleporting here soon. She said she would call me when she arrived." She didn't need a lot of time to pack her lab in her purse. Kennedy would probably come with her too. The girl hated to leave Willow alone even though they were both perfectly capable to defend themselves if anything happened.

Opening the bathroom door Buffy continued, "I'll pick Willow up, when she calls. We are going to stop somewhere for food and then we will come here for whatever Willow needs to find Xander. Do you want anything special to eat?"

Dawn just shrugged. "Anything is fine. Oh and don't forget the Caff-Pows on your way back. If you want to infiltrate the lab you will need to get the lab master on your side and I heard that Abby is really wicked if pissed."

They talked for a few more minutes about the things that would be needed to do before they left the bathroom and joined the NCIS agents again.

* * *

><p><strong>So? What do you think? I would like to hear what were your favorite parts :P<strong>

**Next chapter on its way. Should be posted very soonish.**

**Elza. C. Boe**


	7. Chapter 7

_I know, I know, I'm uber late with this chapter. I'm blaming the summer. It's making me all sleepy and lazy and I just can't summon enough energy to write for long periods of time. _

_This chapter is the longest I wrote till now, so I hope at least that will help you to forgive me :P_

_Thanks __Venea Taur__ for your hard work on this chapter and I'm really grateful for your comments, the positive and not so positive :P_

_I don't own __Buffy__ or __NCIS__, but what can we do._

_I hope you like it and of course I'd like to read what you think about this chapter :P_

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 7<strong>

It took Willow only twelve minutes to pack the things she would need to rescue Xander. It usually took her only seven and a half minutes, but she was packing apocalypse style, which meant everything she possessed.

Only the best for Xander.

It was a good thing she tamed dark Willow a few years ago. Because if dark Willow could still do as she pleased, there would be a big chance that the world would be in danger of ending right about now. Dark Willow wouldn't give a shit about anything until she found Xander. If that entailed ending the world, so be it.

Which about-to-be-killed-in-really-painful-ways bastard dared to take her Xander? The demons really needed to be reminded what happened when they angered a powerful Wiccan. And this time around the slayers would be on her side, helping her teach all those meanies a lesson.

"Ready when you are, love," said Kennedy, as she walked into the room. "Giles confirmed that we have a Code Purple, which means he will support any actions we take, as long as no civilian gets hurt because of it."

The slayer sat down on a chair and leaned forward towards her lover. "You know, the guy that took Xander should really be punished."

"Well duh," the red-head confirmed. "Of course, the kidnapper or kidnappers will be punished."

"I was thinking that we should bring him or her with us to the closest Hellmouth. Do something like we did with Andrew when we kind of made him a prisoner of Case de Summers."

"Oh, oh. That's a great idea. We could send him to Giles as a thank you present. He works too hard and it would be a great stress releaser. And maybe we could invite Angel for a visit. He was, after all, very handy with knives and saws and other stuff like that." Willow smiled a bright smile at her lover and started to bounce around in the room.

Nothing could be worse than Giles. Well there could be more terrifying things in world, but Willow couldn't think of anything. The thought of Giles angry was simply too horrible.

"I'm ready. And we will see about the pet thing when we are in DC. I like cute little things, not some slimy lizards. Not that all lizards are slimy, because they are not. No sir. I like lizards. Lizards are nothing like spiders and spiders are just icky and I hate icky spiders. So, no icky spiders or slimy lizards for us, no sir."

Kennedy just smiled and nodded to her girlfriend. "Sure, Willow. We won't bring back anything spider-ish or lizard-ish. Now let's go, before something eats Xander."

Willow quickly grabbed her bag, took her lover's hand and cast a spell, teleporting them to a back alley somewhere in DC.

xXx

Dawn was going through some information with McGee, when security called to tell them about a woman that was downstairs, demanding to be taken to the team searching for Xander.

McGee looked at Dawn questionably. "She's part of your organization?"

Dawn just smiled and nodded, confirming that it was alright to let her come. Turning to the whole team she warned them. "That's Faith. She is one of our oldest members and is really good at what she does. Unfortunately, you'll have to excuse her behavior. Manners are unfortunately not common when she or her fan girls get involved."

Tony and Tim looked confused and Ziva raised her eyebrows in disbelief, but they saw what the brunette meant as the elevator opened and Faith came strolling in, her tight leather pants matched her even tighter leather top that revealed more that it hid. She shared flirtatious glances with every male she walked past.

When she came to the bullpen, she leaned on her escort and smiled at the agents. "Yo, nice place you got here. I like what you did with your men." Her hand went down on the agent's body until she reached his waist and before anybody knew what she was doing, she pulled out his gun and admired it closely.

Every agent tensed, reaching for their weapons.

Dawn on the other hand knew that Faith was only playing with the agents. "Didn't anybody tell you that playing with guns is dangerous?" Faith looked at Dawn giving her a genuine smile.

"Well, if it isn't Little Miss Kitty Fantastico. And where is B hiding?" Faith returned the gun to the agent and went to hug the little brunette.

"That happened only once! How many times will you bring Miss Kitty Fantastico up? And Buffy is on her way here. She had to go pick up Willow and Kennedy," Dawn said as she embraced Faith. "I'm glad you're here. This could potentially lead to someone trying to open doors to hell again and I would hate to see Buffy getting hurt."

"Now what kind of a sister would I be if I let Buffy get into trouble alone?" grinned the Dark Slayer. She hadn't seen the younger Summers sister since the last apocalypse and she surprisingly missed her.

"You know, we weren't expecting you so soon. I thought you were in Cleveland with Robin when Giles called," Dawn confessed to the older woman.

"I was in the neighborhood. Had a job to do in Baltimore. Plus, Robin and I aren't really talking right now. The thing in Phoenix was the last straw and I had to break it up. I still want to kill him so I thought that it would be safer for everyone that I got as far away from him as possible. I was on my way to Mexico, when Giles called. Canceled my vacation trip and headed right back to DC. I couldn't let the big bad take the Boy-Toy now, could I?"

Dawn rubbed her forehead and sighed. "This is going to be the last time we have to save him from kidnappers. Xander was lucky for these past few years, but Buffy hated that he had nobody to watch his back. It's a safe bet that she will assign at least one of the minis to DC."

"I can stay until she gets somebody here. It's not like somebody needs me somewhere else," offered Faith. Lately she felt as though she was nobody again and Xander was always good at cheering her up.

"That would be great," said Dawn enthusiastically. "That would really help as it would mean that Buffy wouldn't insist to stay in DC until the reinforcements came."

A soft cough interrupted her and she looked behind herself. "Oh sorry, I forgot to introduce you." She grabbed Faith's hand and dragged her closer to Gibbs's team.

Pointing towards each member, she started with the introduction. "Faith these are Xander's co-workers. Special Agents Anthony DiNozzo, Ziva David, Timothy McGee and their boss Gibbs. This is Faith Lehane, one of our operatives."

Faith looked over them and then flashed her predatory smile. "So _you_ are the guys that kept Boy-Toy out of trouble all these years. Nice."

Tony gave her his best charming smile, but the slayer ignored him in favor for his co-worker. The McGee character was really making her hot. Faith didn't know why, but she was always attracted to normal guys, who didn't pay attention to her when she met them. She had to make them pay attention.

Gibbs looked at her with disapproval. "Miss Lehane. We would appreciate, if you left our weapons where they are."

"Sure, Boss Guy. No sweat. I will ask _real_ nicely next time. So what're we fighting this time?" She turned back to Dawn, ignoring the agents looking at her.

Dawn, on the other hand, watched said agents, considering how much to tell Faith in their presence. "Not sure yet. Willow narrowed down the possibilities, but that's all we got for now. Buffy plans to have a meeting when we are back at the apartment." Nodding in understandment, Faith returned to observing the agents in the bullpen.

The Israeli, still feeling threatened addressed the slayer, wanting to know what she was facing. "So, Miss Lehane, what exactly is it that you do for ISWO?"

Faith gave her a predatory smile before answering. She knew that she couldn't tell them the truth, but that didn't mean she had to lie. "Me? I drive around and make sure the minis stay sharp."

"Faith." Dawn didn't like how close to the truth Faith went. People would ask questions and Dawn didn't want to answer them.

"What? It's true. If it wasn't for my surprise visits nobody would train that hard. They are girls for god's sake. Constance almost fell asleep the last time I visited Miami and that was after I called them that I was on the way." Of course it was actually Faith's fault seeing how she dragged the older minis to party with her. It was a fun night, but the minis weren't as good as Faith and the training next morning was a bitch.

Tim was fascinated by the interaction between Lehane and Summers. They looked like they had nothing in common but they bickered like sisters. He really wanted to know what her relationship with Xander was. "So you know Harris?"

Faith zeroed on the cute guy and thought for a second before answering. "Sure. Boy-Toy and I used to have a mighty good time together." It was fun kicking him around.

"Before you threw him out of the motel naked," interjected Dawn. It was funny to imagine it, but that didn't mean she couldn't still be a little angry with Faith for that.

Faith surged and grinned at the young woman. "Hey what can I say, I had a temperament at that time."

Dawn snorted pointing out the hole in that logic. "You threw Robin out of the house naked too."

That killed the good mood Faith was having. "That one doesn't count. He was lucky I made a vow not to kill anymore. Would have broken it if he stayed in the house for five more seconds." Not to mention the bitch that was with him at that time. Should have left his sorry ass right there and then was all that Faith could think.

"Not to kill anymore?" Tim was taken back. The way she said that didn't sound as if she killed someone because it was life or death situation.

"Oh yeah. I was in a bad place a few years back. Killed a guy accidently. Messed with my head big time and I got together with the wrong guy and killed another guy for him. But that's long ago and I served my time. New reformed Faith now." She gave everybody a fake smile, still upset about Robin.

"You employ criminals?" Gibbs wasn't impressed. They were supposedly dealing with serious threats and they trusted former criminals with stopping the bad guys?

Dawn was sure that if things continued as they were going someone was going to get killed or maimed. She just hoped Buffy wouldn't be there when it happened. "Faith made her dews and she makes sure not to break anymore laws. That's all that matters. She is second in command and would take over if Buffy wasn't…" The thought that something would happen to Buffy reminded her of the summer that Dawn thought that she lost her whole family.

Faith saw Dawns distress and consoled her the only way she could. "Like that's ever gonna happen. Buffy would came right out of the grave to finish whatever she started." It made Dawn smile appreciatively at her.

"So if you are second in command, how come you play the inspector," asked Tony.

Faith surged at him. "I'm not the sitting behind desk kinda girl. I come when there is trouble, but otherwise I do whatever the hell I want."

Tony frowned at the slayer. "That doesn't-"

"Look smart ass, leave this alone. We have a system that works so we stick to it. Just because it isn't what you have doesn't mean that is isn't efficient." Faith hated it when people tried to tell her what was right and what was wrong and what the hell she should do. The only one that had any rights to tell her anything was Buffy and even she was careful about it.

"Wow, you used a big word," tried Dawn to defuse the tension. Things were going to explode soon, she was sure of it.

"Screw you," snapped Faith back at her.

"Aye, aye, captain," saluted Dawn before giving the agents a look that warned them that anymore poking would result with mass murder.

It was confirmed with Faith's death glares, so the agents wisely stayed quiet and focused on their work.

Trying to regain her composure Faith started to study the people in the building. Her slayer senses told her that there was somebody inhuman in the room. She looked around assessing the danger. Finally, she saw a small Asian woman with long black hair who was wiping the down button with a tissue. Their eyes met and the woman paled. She threw the tissue in the trash bin and quickly left.

She could take care of the Asian woman later. Right this moment Faith wanted to get back the control she lost during the inquisition. She walked to the desk with the brown haired agent sitting behind it and leaned so that she could talk into his ear.

"Wanna have a little fun after we find Boy-Toy?" McGee jumped, surprised by the proximity of the dangerous looking woman. He tried to answer, but all that came from his mouth was fruitless stammering.

Her game of 'distract the cute Agent guy' was interrupted by the arrival of Buffy.

"Oh, hey, Faith. I see you already started with the party. I bought the entertainment gal and the muscle to get the drunks out. What do you have?" Buffy entered the bullpen, flanked by her best friend, Willow, and her lover, Kennedy.

Faith smiled at Buffy and stood up, hugging the women that just arrived.

The redhead behind Buffy made a sound of glee when she saw Faith and started to blabber. "That's great. You can help us with preparing the party for Rowena's 17'Th birthday tomorrow. But we have to keep it a secret or she will be distracted while we are rescuing Xander."

xXx

"I thought the shit that went down with the First was nasty, but damn, B, this is worse," said Faith to her fellow slayer.

"The First was nothing compared to this. I could at least fight that thing. I have no clue what to do here," agreed Buffy. She felt unprepared for the disaster that was happening around her. "How did we let this to happen?"

"It's your fault, you know? Buffy Summers, the Chosen One, Raiser of the Evil," accused Faith the blond woman, who was sitting next to her. She straightened up and turned towards her friend. "I mean it's named the fucking Caff-Pow for god's sake. That should have told you that it's not meant for Willow! I can barely stomach her when she had two coffees and now she is high on caffeine _and_ sugar. This is worse than when I was still with my mom."

"How was I to know that mixing Willow and Caff-Pow wasn't a good idea? But honestly I was too pissed to notice Willow drank that stuff. I mean who does that guy think he is? Getting mad at me about things that he doesn't know or understand," exclaimed the blond exasperatedly.

It didn't take more than five minutes after Buffy came back to the bullpen for her and Gibbs to get into an argument again. It was not a surprise, seeing how they were both used to lead and were both currently in a bad mood. Was it not for Dawn and her quick intervention in the fight, Buffy would have done something she would have regretted later on.

After the _little_ argument Buffy had with Gibbs, Willow went to the lab with her offerings for the resident goddess. Abby, who didn't like strangers in her lab, took an immediate liking to Willow. They each drank of their respected Caff-Pows and chatted while working on the evidence.

It started innocently, very enthusiastic debates, hand waiving, bouncing and such stuff. Faith and Buffy came down so that they could open Xander's box. They were waiting for the red head to get what she needed and were lulled into false sense of peace. Soon enough Abby and Willow started to babble, rushing around the lab. The two slayers had a hard time following what was happening around them.

Buffy was fairly sure the two researchers talked about her shouting match with Gibbs, but the talking was too fast for her to understand more than just a few words. She wished she hadn't volunteered to babysit the witch, certain that this was an experience she would most likely not live through. Not that it would be the first time she died.

She needed a way out. Preferably five minutes ago.

"What if we said, we got a tip that Xander is about to be sacrificed? It would make her do her mojo that much faster. It has to work, right? Willow loves Xander like a brother. Even caffeine couldn't prevent her from getting really serious when Xan's in trouble."

"And then she would kill you for making her worry unnecessarily. Not worth it, B." It would lead to a total disaster if they lied to the witch. "You're forgetting that the nice innocent Willow isn't so innocent when she's upset. She would have destroyed the world ages ago, if not for Xander." The fact that they were all friends wouldn't stop Willow from seeking revenge. "No, lying to Willow won't work." Faith repeated already deeply in her thoughts, trying to come up with a plan that would get them out of the lab. "But that doesn't mean we aren't allowed to blackmail the mini upstairs. Kennedy would be thrilled to be with Willow. But let's not tell her about the Caff-Pow situation." The two slayers shared evil grins at Faith's suggestion.

The only thing that they needed now was a good excuse to leave, which was provided to her by Ziva, entering the lab.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Buffy looked at her fellow slayer, already planning how they would make their way out.

"I don't think you want to start thinking what I think," responded Faith. Ziva reminded the dark haired slayer awfully of her younger self, when she still hadn't found her place. At that time, she still thought the Mayor was the person that could give her purpose. Yes, he was evil, but he treated Faith like she always wanted an adult to treat her. He was nice, took care of her. The Mayor was a father figure for her at that time. If she was honest, he never stopped being.

She knew what he was doing was wrong. She didn't have any inclination to go back to what she was at that time, but Mayor Wilkins was still someone she admired.

Faith could tell Ziva was the same. She found her Wilkins in Gibbs. They were dangerous women wanting to be praised and acknowledged. Ziva at least found a _good_ father figure to look up to.

"Any luck with the box," asked the Israeli.

Handing the box to the agent Buffy smiled. "It isn't that hard to open if you know what you are looking for. But you won't find anything that would help with the investigation."

Ziva opened the box and saw why. The box was full of pictures, full of girls various ages, standing next to Xander. Some of them were hugging Xander and others were just standing near. She recognized the Summers sisters and the other three woman at NCIS on some of the pictures, too.

"That's a lot of pictures." Ziva thought aloud. Buffy was right. These pictures would probably not help at all. But they were interesting to look at nonetheless.

"There are few shots of your team in there, too," mentioned Buffy, when she saw how carefully the Israeli observed the photos.

Ziva didn't really know anybody except Harris in the pictures, but she just couldn't look away. It wasn't really the people that attracted her. It was the different emotions she could see in their faces. There were pictures where you could actually feel the happiness they felt when the photos were taken, pictures where the sadness was overwhelming. Pictures where faces were tight with tension and pictures where you could practically see the love and passion floating in the air.

Bored watching, Faith finally stated to execute the plan that she came with when the Israeli entered the room. "Say Ms. David, would NCIS have a place where a frustrated woman could release some stress? Something that's _far_ away from the lab?"

When the NCIS agent glanced from the pictures to the dark haired woman, the slayer gave her a sly look, baiting her to take them there.

Faith needed something to do. Sitting and waiting wasn't her, she needed action, something to do, something to kill. Right now she and Buffy weren't needed in the Xander-search. Dawn and Willow had it all covered. But Faith needed to do something or she was going to go nuts. Sparing could at least take the edge of.

Ziva nodded at Faith, wondering how she could think about fighting while Xander was missing.

"I don't think that's such a great idea Faith," protested Buffy. It just didn't feel right while Xander was still missing.

"Come on, B. It's not like we have anything better to do. I for one am happy to leave the research part to little D and Red." Faith all but whined at her sister slayer.

"Still…" But Buffy wasn't able to finish her sentence as Faith continued with her reasons

"Don't tell that you don't itch to do something. It's killing me to just sit and wait."

Buffy left out a frustrated huff but didn't deny the stress that was making her muscles tight. She, like every other slayer, was a doer. It went against her every instinct to just wait. Her inner slayer wanted to hurt and kill. But right now she was trapped in the building and the only relieve she would get would be unlashing her slayer on Faith. "Lead the way."

"This way then," said Ziva putting the pictures to the box.

The slayers nodded and followed her. Buffy quickly sent Kennedy a message to go babysit her girlfriend and shouted a goodbye to Willow.

The two slayers fallowed Ziva thru maze of hallways. Buffy had no problem to walk in silence, but Faith couldn't stand it. She started to talk with Ziva, which quickly escalated into a mild fight between the two women.

When she first met the Israeli, Buffy thought that Ziva was a second Faith, only less slayer-ish. Now that the two women stood before her, she wasn't so sure about the slayer part anymore. To an outsider they would look just like two sisters arguing over clothes or boys. It amused Buffy how they had a similar aura around them.

It was no surprise to Buffy that Faith and Ziva wanted to spar first.

They were both clearly alphas and wanted to prove their seniority over the other. Buffy was sure that they would end up being best friends or worst enemies. Either way, it was going to be a show worth to see.

As soon as Ziva and Faith started to spar, the agents in the room came closer to watch. It didn't take long for bets to be made. Most of them bet on Ziva, already knowing how good a fighter she was.

Buffy didn't want to bet on either, at first. She didn't want to take advantage of all the agents that had no idea that Faith was actually a slayer. But after a particularly crude joke about Faith, Buffy decided that she was done playing nice and bet all the money she had in her wallet on the slayer.

It surprised Buffy, how the fight was almost even. Faith only had the advantage because of her slayer strength. Finally Ziva had to yield the match, when Faith put her on the ground without any room to free herself.

"Hey, B, want to go a round with me? I promise to be nice," the Dark Slayer taunted her friend.

Buffy had counted on this and had warmed up already. It was only half a day since she went on a patrol, but she needed to release some of the pent up energy again. "Yeah, yeah, talk all you like. We both know I'm gonna beat your ass."

The fight started slow. They already knew each other's style, what with trying to kill the other years ago. The slow start was more for the assessment of the current situation. After the first few punches, they went all out. Buffy attacked with a series of jabs, but Faith stopped her by grabbing her hands and throwing her over her back. Landing on her back, Buffy rolled left, to evade the kick that followed. She quickly stood up, evaded another kick and used the opening to land the first punch in Faith's stomach.

It was like art, the flow of their attacks was so elegant that the onlookers almost forgot that every punch promised a world of pain if not dodged.

Ziva was irritated. Her sparring partner had been holding back. The Israeli wanted to scream, to punch something, anything. It was like Faith was mocking her, saying that she wasn't even worthy to fight in an all-out fight with her.

But now, now that she was watching a fight between the two ISWO women, she was glad that Faith didn't go all out. The Israeli was trained enough to tell that the moves that were being used in the spar were sharp and precise despite the speed in which the two woman were moving. To others it may have looked just like any other sparing, but she knew better.

The deadliness of their moves made Ziva wish she never needed to fight either of them. If every operative in their organization had to be as skilled as they were, what on earth were they fighting against?

"Is that all you got, B? You're sitting too much, now that you're in charge," taunted the brunet while dodging a series of punches and a countered them with kicking Buffy into the side.

"Don't you worry about me being the boss, I can still easily kick your butt to Scotland and back," answered the blond, returning the received kick with one of her own and then jumped to the other end of the mat.

"Pfff, you can try, B, but I ain't going down that easy. I've spent my time practicing while you're smooching with your boy-toy. You may have a year of experience over me, but I'm caching up on you." They attacked each other again, hitting and kicking with all their might, but still never inflicting serious injuries.

"At least I have someone." They both stopped fighting abruptly. The subject of the significant others was still a touchy subject for Faith.

"Sorry, Faith. That was uncalled for. I know you and Robin…" Faith made a grimace, shrugged at Buffy and turned around leaving the mat.

Buffy could see how tens Faiths back become and was not soothed by the words that came next. "Don't worry, B, I will get over it. At least my love life isn't as messed up as yours was before…" She looked back at the blond and smiled sadly. She still felt raw inside no matter how much she tried to forget everything. Robin's betrayal hit her really hard and the pain that came with the betrayal just didn't want to go away. "Let's call it a draw for now, ok?"

She continued her path to the lockers with a wide stride. She needed some time for herself, so that she could bury the memories of Robin that haunted her. She needed to be on top of her game for Xander.

"Yeah, ok," said the blond, but it was so quietly that Ziva doubted that Faith heard. Buffy than turned back to the NCIS agents. "I should leave as well. Willow's probably finished by now too. There're people waiting on my orders and if I don't show soon there will be mayhem. The girls just can't sit still for long."

With that, she followed Faith to the lockers, but just before she vanished from sight she turned back to Ziva. "Almost forgot. Do you know an agent working here, female, around five feet, Asian with dark wavy hair, nuts about cleaning things?"

Ziva didn't even have to think who that could be. "That would be Special Agent Michelle Lee. Why?"

Buffy gave her a brilliant smile that lit her whole face. "I saw her wearing these awesome shoes that I just have to have. I wanted to ask her where she got them."

With that said Buffy turned around and left.

xXx

"So what's your impression of the people from ISWO," asked Gibbs, when the team finally assembled a few hours after the women left.

"They are concealing something," answered Ziva simply. "There were many times when they would stop in the middle of a word and replace it with something else. There were also all the silent communications between the older Summers and Faith Lehane." Something about this group of women was making Ziva cautious.

"Like what," Tony asked. All the women he had met today intimidated him with their presence, just like Gibbs intimidated him when he first started to work for the man. Not that he would ever tell that to others.

"I do not know, they are concealing it," answered Ziva. It was a stupid question.

"Ok, Ziva, Dinozzo, I want you to follow them. Something's up and I have a feeling that this group has all the answers." Gibbs watched the women the whole day and he was sure that they were the best at what they did. Not that he knew what that entailed. He also noted that the women didn't look as frustrated as he would expect someone to look after a whole day of trying to find the missing agent and failing.

"On it, Boss."

* * *

><p><strong>You know what's next. Reviews pleas. *big puppy eyes* I need your love. Summer is bad and it makes me sad. *pouting*<br>**

**-Elza C. Boe**


	8. Short Notice

I want to apologize to everybody reading this story...

I'm _really_ sorry about this long "holidays", but my computer crashed and I lost everything I had... I'm working on rewriting everything again, but it's taking more time that I thought it would... I promise to make it snappy and we'll see how it goes...

Thanks for your patience and all your comments ... it helps a lot to know that people like this story...

See you soon :P

Elza


	9. Chapter 8

_Sorry for the wait ... My stupid computer also sais he's sorry ... _

_A shout out to my beta __Venea Taur__ ... you are awesome_

_Also I, sadly, don't own BtVS or NCIS ... Not for the lack of trying, of course..._

_Enjoy_

**Chapter 8**

As soon as the five women entered the ISWO base of operation in DC, they were engulfed in mayhem.

The girls in the apartment were throwing articles of clothing and pillows at each other, while arguing loudly about a matter that neither of the five could understand. The teenagers didn't even notice the five other people in the apartment as the battle went on.

"Sweet, a pillow fight extraordinaire. What do you say, B. Want to join and show the minis who's the boss? If we team up they don't stand a chance." Faith looked at her fellow slayer. Buffy was glad that Faith was smiling again. The comments about Robin upset the Dark Slayer more than Buffy expected and she was sorry that she even brought it up.

"As tempting as that sounds, we have work to do. Maybe after we save Xander." The blond stepped further into the apartment and looked at the girls that represented her squad. Bringing fingers to her mouth, she whistled loudly. The girls stop, startled, before taking defensive positions.

"I see you girls didn't waste time getting familiar with our temporary base," commented Buffy, humor dancing in her eyes.

"Yes, ma'am," came the unison answer from the five teenagers in the room. They all looked at the floor, ashamed being caught playing by the Slayer. Their team leader was a woman to be admired. And, although, they knew that she wasn't really strict or anything, they wanted to impress her.

"The perimeter is secured. The weapons are prepared to be used at a moment's notice. And the nearest place that delivers is ten minutes away. The number is by the phone," reported Satsu, a small Chinese with a taste for funky clothes and original hair styles. She'd been on Buffy's team the longest and knew what the blond woman wanted to know first.

"That's great to know. Good job, girls. And please, how many times do I have to say, stop with the ma'am. It makes me feel old." Buffy and the women walked further into the apartment and started to unpack the things they brought with them to DC. Buffy then disappeared in the kitchen, the noise following her only companion.

Willow's small purse soon produced different ingredients and utensils for various spells.

Renée took one look at all the things and whispered to Kira. "Don't we just need the stuff for the location spell? What's the other things for?"

Kira jabbed her friend in the ribs. "Of course we need all that. It's Xander we are saving today, nothing is set in stone. We could be dealing with an apocalypse." The two shared a look and walked away, their minds full of things that could happen.

Kennedy unfolded the map of the town and started to set red, blue and green dots on it. The red dots were the locations where the supernatural beings gathered, the blue dots were places where Xander met any demons and the green dots were for crime scenes where the victims died because of demons.

"These dots show any demonic activities that Xander knew about. Xander had written detailed reports about the supernatural movements and so far, we didn't detect any rising threats so we are working on an assumption that whatever happened was spontaneous. That means that we will have fewer clues to help us find Xander." She finished putting the dots on the map and stepped back, so that she saw all the slayers in the room.

Faith stepped next to her and continued the briefing. "We're going to split up and visit all the places where the demons like to hang out. Kira, you are with me."

She pointed to the district where most of the green dots were, indicating the crime scenes. Kira, the African-American teen with long wavy red hair nodded and started to study the alleys.

"Renée, you will stay here with Red, while she prepares to cast the location spell. You will have to hold the fort down and call for backup in case we alert anyone or anything that doesn't want to be found." Renée, already armed with daggers, nodded. She knew it was going to be boring, but it was important that she had Willow's back, while the which did her mojo.

Buffy came to the table and continued what Faith already started. "Satsu, you and Leah will check the east side of the town. See what you can find, talk to anybody that might know something." She looked at her two charges and smiled wickedly. "And you can use as much brutality as you want, if the need arises."

Turning back to the map, she continued with positioning the minis. "Rowena and Kennedy, you two should look here and here." The blond Slayer pointed on the north and northwest part of the town, where there were the blue dots. "But remember that we are here to find Xander, so you are not allowed to get side tracked with some random demon."

Buffy looked at her sister and said, "Dawn, you and I are going to comb through the center of the city. See what we can find. And we will check that demon place the NCIS mentioned, Andy's or something."

Dawn nodded and directed her attention back on the documents she had in her hands. She wanted to be familiar with what was usually going on in the town to minimize the risks when she and Buffy went out later that night.

Willow then joined the conversation. "It shouldn't take long for me to see where Xander is held. I'm going to contact you as soon as I'm finished. The one that's closest should go and check it out." Everyone nodded in agreement.

Buffy looked up from the map and finished the meeting. "So we all know what to do. We'll wait 'til dark and then go. Like I said before, Xander is a priority here, but that doesn't mean that we'll let people get eaten. Got it? The ones that will check Xander's place, please just observe. No playing heroes and going in. I want to see, what we can find anything about this situation first. No sense to make things easier for the bad guys. We gather back here at midnight. Willow, can you make sure that there is some food when we come back?"

The red-headed which just nodded and went back to her herbs and pig trotter. Buffy and Faith went to the other room to inspect the weapons, so that everything was as it should be.

"You know, I'm kind of eager for the fight. Its gona be so fun to beat up the baddies. I'm highly mad at them, but its gona be fun. So, what do you think? Who took Xander this time," asked Leah eagerly, while balancing her knife on the tip of her index finger.

"A female demon, no doubt," answered Kira. "Everyone knows that if Xander is missing, it's a female demon."

Dawn nodded from her place on the sofa. "Back in Sunnydale he almost got eaten by his biology teacher that was actually a giant mantis. And an Inca mummy almost sucked out his life force. There was also that girl just before Sunnydale sank that wanted to sacrifice him, to open the doors to other dimension. Those were fun times." She chuckles, but it sounds forced.

"I heard he was possessed by a hyena once. A _female_ hyena," mentioned Renée. All the girls looked at Dawn to confirm or deny the rumor.

"Junior high. But to his defense, it's the females that are alphas in hyena society. And he was possessed by a soldier for Halloween the next year." Dawn put the papers down and looked at Renée.

"What I want to know is why the hell is there no slayer in DC to make sure he's alright," asked Satsu.

"The stubborn idiot refused when Buffy wanted to put a few slayers in DC. Said it would be like leaving his forwarding address to Murphy. They had an all-out fight for weeks. Xander finally won, although I have no clue what he said to her. Willow thinks he blackmailed her into letting him win the argument." Dawn shrugged.

"Cool," exclaimed the youngest of the slayers, Rowena. "Xander is sooo awesome."

The young slayers really admired Xander Harris despite him leaving ISWO four years ago. He was a legend and it was like they were rescuing Justin Bieber or One Direction.

The girls felt honored that they got the opportunity to go with Buffy instead of having to wait for her. Saving one of the former Scoobys was like participating in an apocalypse. Not that they wouldn't have gone to back Buffy up if somebody else had been captured.

"So, why isn't Oz here, helping to find Xander," the bubbly redhead, Leah, asked. She liked the werewolf. He had this charm about him and his one-word answers were just cool.

"Oh, he met one of his kind in Tokyo. Went all Master Zen on him and took him to his version of Mecca," answered Dawn. She had to listen to Buffy's explanation of Oz's absence for hours. Not to mention to her whining.

"You do know that those two things are from two different religions, right?" Kira pointed out despite knowing the likely answer. Summers women didn't care about semantics.

Dawn just shrugged. She got her point across so why complicate things? "Doesn't really matter. Oz is busy with Ichigo or whatever, so the only support he will be offering this time around will be of the moral kind."

xXx

"So, what do you think they are doing," asked Tony his partner. They had sat in front of the apartment complex for a few hours and, as on any other stakeouts, he was restless. Fortunately, the ISWO women seemed to be finally making a move.

"There are more of them than before," remarked Ziva as she observed the figures leaving. They were wearing dark clothes, probably meant to hide their movement in the dark. Well, all except a girl who wore a bright red trench coat. "They are all females. Rosenberg is missing, but they have extra people with them. They are all so young. Teenagers."

Tony took the binoculars and looked closer. "You're right. Gibbs won't like this. It's bad enough that he lost the case to the blond. The fact that she works with kids… Yeah, I don't want to be there when he finds out."

They followed the group until the first intersection, when Tony and Ziva encountered a problem.

"They are splitting up. Do you think they saw us," Tony asked. The girls split into pairs, going their separate ways.

"No, I don't think so. They had the intention to split from the beginning." Ziva was sure of that. "Do you see how they broke of? They knew where they were going beforehand and just matched their stride to the one going the same way."

Tony looked at his partner with a grin. "So, who should we follow? The Little Red Riding Hood, Snow Wight, Pocahontas or Rapunzel?"

Ziva glared at his antics before answering. "The sisters. Buffy Summers is the one in charge, correct? She will probably have the most important assignment. They will probably all meet with her at one point or another." She looked around and pointed the way the Summers sisters left.

"Not necessarily. Being in charge doesn't always mean being in the center of the action. I knew a few who would happily wait until it was over without feeling the need to help," argued Tony back.

"Perhaps. But I do not think Buffy Summers is one of those people. She seems like the type of person that would want to be in the heart of things. She and Ms. Lehane are extraordinaire fighters despite being in charge. That tells me that more often than not they engage in dangerous situations. No, I don't think she would wait on the sidelines. Buffy Summers is in on the action as you Americans say."

"Oh, I'd show her some action, that's for sure" he muttered before picking up the pace.

xXx

"We're…"

"I noticed. They aren't really stealthy."

"Should we…"

"Nah. It would look very suspicious if we did that."

"So what then?"

"Let them follow. It's not like we are doing anything wrong."

Buffy crossed the street and looked into the next alley. So far, they hadn't encountered anything supernatural, but that wasn't really surprising.

"They were following us from the start, but I didn't want to say anything. I find it kind of rude though. We aren't the suspects here and yet they still feel the need to follow us," commented Dawn, walking right next to her sister.

"I guess they are skeptical because of our age. Anyway, I don't think we are going to meet anybody demonic on the streets tonight. Word on the street travels quicker than the wind and by now everybody should know that the slayers are in town, looking for a kidnapped friend. What do you say if we go straight to the bar?" The blond stopped and checked her surroundings.

"That would probably be the best," agreed Dawn. She had been in this business long enough to know when the streets were deserted.

They took the shortest way to Andy's while still looking out for anything worth noticing.

When they finally arrived, Buffy stopped in front the door. "Do you think they will try to follow?" She nodded towards the car still following them and looked at her sister questionably.

"That depends on what they were ordered to do. But my guess is that they will at least try. Should I stay here and stop them?" Dawn wasn't really looking forward to going into the bar, but the idea of staying outside wasn't appealing either.

"How? They are probably two of them. Xander said something about backup. No, it will be better if we make it clear to stay out of this." They turned around and went towards the car that was following them.

Buffy knocked on the glass on the driver's side. Tony rolled it down and looked charmingly at her. "Busted?"

It did nothing to soften Buffy's facial expression. She was working right now and outsiders didn't really mix with her line of work. They usually got killed for their curiosity. It was just too dangerous for normal humans.

"Ok, here is the deal. We let you observe us, but now we came to warn you. Do not attempt to follow us in the bar unless you got a death wish. I don't care what orders you got, it's not safe for you."

"It's just a bar. Besides, we are trained agents," protested Tony.

"Not for this," countered Buffy.

Ziva caught her eye and asked. "And it's safe for you?"

Tony could see something passing between his partner and Buffy Summers, but wasn't sure what. Whatever it was, it made Ziva back off even before she got an answer.

"More or less," answered the blond.

"Can I ask why?" wanted Tony to know.

"Because I'm the reason monsters have nightmares." The smile that crossed Buffy's face was so frightening that Tony hoped that he would never anger the other woman.

* * *

><p><strong>Comment, comment, comment ... but only if you liked it XD<strong>


End file.
